This article examines how a second-grader demonstrates that reading is not about decoding letters and words in linear order but is a more complex activity involving the reader's decisions with respect to several aspects of their knowledge of their language and how comprehension is key to transacting with texts. The paper observes and documents the…

As a result of the Reading First Program of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the view of reading has narrowed. Individual state's Reading First professional development programs, and hence reading teachers across the United States, have spent the six years since the funding of the program in 2002 focusing beginning and developmental reading on…

Group training on segmentation-blending training forms (SB) in conjunction with strategies for decoding novel words (WD) was assessed in kindergarteners. Neither the WD or SB factor was found to significantly affect novel word decoding performance, although the results indicated that the sounding out SB form led to considerable success in word…

The purposes of this study were to determine (1) if it is possible to predict which children will develop word recognition deficits based on levels of articulation proficiency and auditory discrimination ability; (2) the effect of two different instructional approaches for beginning reading, phonics, and whole-word approach; and (3) if first grade…

This paper analyzes evidence related to the effectiveness of vowel generalization from two viewpoints: the nature of letter-sound and sound-letter relationships as derived from Dewey, Hanna, and Hillerich, and the nature of these relationships as derived from results of teaching vowel generalizations to children. From the evidence and the research…

The investigation was concerned with the class of grapheme-phoneme correspondence called spelling patterns and was intended to broaden empirical understanding of grapheme-phoneme correspondences used in teaching initial reading. Twenty-five boys and 47 girls from three moderate-ability first grade classes were chosen as subjects. These students…

The purpose of this study was to compare the phonics skills mastered by three groups of fifth and sixth grade students. Sixty fifth and sixth grade students from an open area school were selected as subjects--14 students were reading at third grade instructional level, 15 students at fourth grade instructional level, and 31 students at fifth grade…

Four different treatments were used over a period of five months in this experiment concerning the teaching of reading skills to 35 black kindergarten children. The treatments were: (1) spelling patterns/phonic approach using black standard English, (2) a sight approach using black standard English, (3) a sight approach utilizing black nonstandard…

Ten auditory and ten visual aptitude measures were administered in the middle of first grade to a sample of 58 low readers. More than half of this low reader sample had scored more than a year below expected grade level on two or more aptitudes. Word recognition measures were administered after four months of sight word instruction and again after…

Targeted to a wide audience, this book is a highly readable, nontechnical work without sacrificing the informative value offered by the relevant empirical research. The book is organized into three sections that discuss why it's difficult to learn to read; existing scientific evidence in reading research; and practical solutions, based on the…

The main purpose of this study was to structure and compare two series of grapheme-phoneme correspondence and phonics generalizations. The first series of correspondences and generalizations is designed for seriously disabled readers in grades 3-9 and was derived through a phonemic analysis of the first 1,500 words of the Heritage list ( The…

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent the knowledge of letter names, letter sounds, or the combination of both facilitates the acquisition of word recognition ability. Forty-eight first graders were pretested and posttested on their knowledge of letter names and sounds, and measures of auditory and visual discrimination…

Research suggests New Zealand has the biggest gap between its highest and lowest achievers, and this is known as the "long tail". The debate over whole language and phonics approaches to reading is unfinished, but must now focus on where the point of difference lies. While reading involves a range of skills, teachers need to model the…

The purpose of this study was to compare the ability to pronounce synthetic words of children who learned to read by methods emphasizing early, intensive phonics instruction with the ability of children who learned to read by methods utilizing delayed and less intensive phonics instruction. The sample was selected from among second, third, and…

A volume of "The Dimensions in Early Learning Series," this monograph explores beginning reading. The introduction defines reading, and chapters I and II review reading development and discuss theory and hierarchy of reading development. How to evaluate reading achievement, ways to teach reading, and what parents can do to help are subjects…